The New Jersey state committee investigating the George Washington Bridge traffic jam wants to see Gov. Chris Christie's helicopter flight records, trying to determine if one flight took him over the scene of the epic mess created by Christie's aides. Continuing an aggressive hunt for records, the joint investigative committee on Monday authorized 18 new subpoenas for information, including one to the New Jersey State Police aviation unit, which operates the helicopters, according to a source familiar with the committee. A spokesman for Christie confirmed one flight in that vicinity during the four-day traffic jam: a trip from Sept.

For the first time in two decades, Texas is electing itself a new governor, making the contest - featuring liberal heroine Wendy Davis - one of the marquee races of this election year. That alone would be good reason for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, head of the GOP's gubernatorial campaign arm, to drop by the Lone Star State. There's also this: Texas is a deeply red bastion bursting with fat cats slinging fat wallets who could serve Christie well in a prospective 2016 bid for president.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday insisted he never knew that his aides had intentionally fouled up traffic approaches to the George Washington Bridge until after the lanes had been reopened - though he admitted he might have heard about traffic snarls while they were happening and not paid any attention. Answering questions during his monthly radio call-in show from Trenton, Christie also said that federal prosecutors had subpoenaed records from his office, as part of investigations into possible abuses of power by his administration.

TRENTON, N.J. - With a hot sun bearing down, Gov. Chris Christie grasped a ceremonial shovel and dug into a patch of dirt where a new park would bloom in a blighted area of Newark. To his right, holding another shovel, was Bill Baroni, then Christie's appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - and now a central player in the George Washington Bridge scandal that has enveloped the New Jersey governor and his aides. Baroni was delivering a $9-million boost from his agency's coffers to buy land for the park.

A former close aide to Gov. Chris Christie said the governor knew about the George Washington Bridge road closures while they were happening, disputing the governor's assertions that he only learned about the mess later. A lawyer for David Wildstein, who engineered the lane closures while working at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said in a letter that the closures came at the “at the Christie adminstration's order” and that “evidence exists” to show the governor learned of it during the closures and the ensuing four-day traffic jam in Fort Lee, the town leading to the bridge.

Christie Brinkley seems to be defying the laws of aging and broadcasting it as she gears up for her 60th -- yes, 60th -- birthday on Sunday. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit model flaunts what she's got on the latest cover of People , posing in a teal swimsuit for the mag. "Christie at 60! All her stay-young secrets" the headline reads, and the va-va-voom factor she brings to the glossy surely does the mag a few favors. "I never would would have imagined this is how I would be celebrating my 60th ... But Thank you PEOPLE Magazine for hopefully sending the message that with proper diet , exercise ,and joie de vi[vr]

TRENTON, N.J. -- A new joint investigations committee began its work Monday, seeking to unravel the mystery of who gave the order for the now-notorious traffic jam in September in the lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge. The new joint committee reissued the 20 subpoenas that another Assembly panel issued earlier this month, many to top officials in the office of Republican Gov. Chris Christie and his appointees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly had started separate investigations before deciding to combine their efforts.

In election cycles past, losing presidential candidates have been content to fade into the background, avoiding interviews and sidestepping questions about pressing political matters. But that has not been the case with 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who seemed to pop up everywhere from “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” to “The Rachael Ray Show” last fall as he promoted his wife's cookbook , and resurfaced again this month as Netflix released a new documentary about his two presidential campaigns.

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may have spent the better part of the last two weeks apologizing for "Bridgegate," but now, it seems, the apologies are over. In a 20-minute inaugural address in an auditorium at the War Memorial in Trenton, Christie made no mention of the allegations that have dogged his administration. Instead, he emphasized his sweeping margin of victory in November and the bipartisan, common-sense spirit that he has often said characterizes New Jersey.